Mid-infrared spectroscopy of high-redshift 3CRR sources

TL;DR

This study uses mid-infrared spectroscopy of high-redshift 3CRR radio sources to investigate orientation effects and dust properties in active galactic nuclei, confirming unification models and revealing redshift-dependent differences.

Contribution

It provides the first comprehensive mid-infrared spectral analysis of high-redshift 3CRR sources, demonstrating orientation effects and comparing high-z and low-z AGN dust features.

Findings

Radio galaxies show silicate absorption; quasars show emission.

Silicate absorption depth correlates with radio core fraction.

High-z radio galaxies have lower MIR absorption than scaled low-z counterparts.

Abstract

Using the Spitzer Space Telescope, we have obtained rest frame 9-16mu spectra of 11 quasars and 9 radio galaxies from the 3CRR catalog at redshifts 1.0<z<1.4. This complete flux-limited 178MHz-selected sample is unbiased with respect to orientation and therefore suited to study orientation-dependent effects in the most powerful active galactic nuclei (AGN). The mean radio galaxy spectrum shows a clear silicate absorption feature (tau_9.7mu = 1.1) whereas the mean quasar spectrum shows silicates in emission. The mean radio galaxy spectrum matches a dust-absorbed mean quasar spectrum in both shape and overall flux level. The data for individual objects conform to these results. The trend of the silicate depth to increase with decreasing core fraction of the radio source further supports that for this sample, orientation is the main driver for the difference between radio galaxies and quasars, as predicted by AGN unification. However, comparing our high-z sample with lower redshift 3CRR objects reveals that the absorption of the high-z radio galaxy MIR continuum is lower than expected from a scaled up version of lower luminosity sources, and we discuss some effects that may explain these trends.